September Newsletter

In early August, activists converged from across the Northwest region and the country for the Coal Export Action and 23 participated in five days of protests and civil disobedience to stop the coal industry’s latest scheme to save itself from obsolescence. Over the next few months, the groups that organized the Coal Export Action will be building on the momentum generated last week. A series of new campaigns and actions will continue to challenge the corporate and political players that make the coal industry in Montana so powerful.

Seven activists, including a retired minister, a small businessman, a grandmother and local farmer, locked down a truck in Livingston, TX carrying massive pipe intended for Keystone XL construction. The truck was stopped at the entrance of the pipe yard, rendering construction for the day impossible. Seven were arrested as part of the action. TransCanada has tried to keep the start of construction on this pipeline a secret, and this action exposed it. This is only the first of many more actions to come and how we intend to win– with passion, persistence and people power.

In the climax of the 2012 Republican National Convention, Earth First! blocked roads to TECO’s Big Bend coal plant on the eastern shore of Tampa Bay. The environmental action group cited corporate influence in politics and ecological impacts of fossil fuel dependency as reasons for the disruption. Seven people in total were detained for stopping all traffic into the coal plant for near four hours. One hundred people rallied in support.

In August, over 150 people sat in at the gates of the Schlumberger industrial facility in Horseheads, NY. Among their numbers were children, grandparents, college students, and working people of all kinds. They all had a common purpose: to defend their communities, land, and water from hydro-fracking, aka “fracking”. And they did so in a way New York State has not yet seen– direct action, at the gates of the gas industry.